NAACP looks into incident involving man jailed last month

Members of the Myrtle Beach chapter of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People plan to contact Horry County Solicitor's Office, and then have the state Law Enforcement Division investigate an incident that involved a man who was incarcerated last month, said Mickey James, president of the Myrtle Beach branch.

Walker Bellamy, 60, was jailed Feb. 4 on a charge of failure to appear and released Feb. 9, according to jail records.

An incident occurred with Bellamy while he was jailed, and they plan an investigation of the incident, James said.

Members of the Myrtle Beach NAACP chapter held a news conference Thursday at J. Reuben Long Detention Center.

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James said after the conference that they believe some force was applied to Bellamy's forehead, and Bellamy had a swollen face after he was jailed.

Tom Fox, J. Reuben Long Detention Center's director, said the incident happened Feb.6 when three officers escorted Bellamy back to the housing unit and he got into an altercation with the officers. Bellamy received a bump to his forehead as a result of it, Fox said.

He was moved into a medical observation area, days later contusions began to show, so he was taken to an area hospital, Fox said.

Fox said an internal investigation was done and no wrongdoing was found on the part of the officers. He said Bellamy has a pre-exisiting medical condition where his injuries appear worse than they are.

James, who said he was contacted by Bellamy's family about the situation, said Bellamy's family said he never had that type of problem before where his face was swollen.

James said he was told Bellamy was escorted from his cell to be taken to Conway Medical Center, and was told he could go home after he was discharged from the hospital.

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